So, a friend of mine just gave me 8 boxes comics. I figure I have enough reading material for the next year. Most of the boxes are well organized, but one of them was just comics, thrown in a semi-random order. So, before I went out tonight, I decided to kinda look through and see what was there. Before I knew it, I had unpacked a decent portion of the box on my floor. For those of oyu who don't know me, I'm kinda OCD, so I had to unpack and organize the whole box at that point.
So, now I have the whole box in piles by title on my floor. Some of which I am super excited to read (Runaways, Danger Girl) and some of which I still will read, but will not be a top priority (Groo).
When I got the boxes, he was showing me some of the books. It was crazy. I remembered reading them about 20 years ago when they were fresh on the stands. Kraven the Hunter. Spider-Man and MJ's wedding. Issues I went to the comic book store and bought with anticipation when they came out, coming back into my life when I am more than twice as old as when I read them the first time. I can't wait to read those old issues and see how much I remember.
I am also excited to read the new stuff that I have read about, but never went and bought. I feel like just recently, comics have kinda crossed over into the mainstream. July was the first ComicCon I went to, and I can't wait for next year. Comikaze is next weekend, and eventhough I am currently unemployed, I am trying to figure out (rationalize) how to pay for at least one day.
So far I have only read one book out of the boxes. It was a "What if?"
I know I have written about the DC version "Elseworlds" before on this blog, but I wanted to revisit some of the same topics. The "What if?" series essientially asks what would have happened if a storyline had gone in a completely different direction. In this case it was about "what if Jean Grey had been resurrected in Astonishing X-Men instead of Colossus. It was interesting, because it called the Cyclops and White Witch relationship into question. But, it also made me think of Batman: Flashpoint.
In Batman: Flashpoint, it's alternate relaty where Bruce Wayne was killed and his parents survive. In this reality, Thomas Wayne becomes Batman. He fights the crime that killed his son, and is searching for his arch-nemesis the Joker. What is interesting is that when we see the Joker, it is not the Joker we know, but instead it's Martha Wayne, Bruce's mother. What we see is 2 different reactions to parents seeing their child murdered. One is to become a crusader for justice. The other is become the incarnation of the chaos that took that child. In some ways, this is more interesting view of characters. But, I'm not sure how long this could remain interesting.
I like these kind of stories because it make the writer ask "What if?"
I could and probably will say more at a later date, but I have been drinking and am going to bed.
